


The Hawk of Endymion

by Sine_Wave_Rider



Category: Gundam SEED, Gundam SEED Destiny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-06
Updated: 2015-03-06
Packaged: 2018-03-16 12:54:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3489014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sine_Wave_Rider/pseuds/Sine_Wave_Rider
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neo Roanoke was once sure of everything. Now he is sure of nothing. He is torn between what he knows and what he feels when he begins to remember events of somebody else's past. Who is Mu La Flaga? Neo Roanoke isn't sure of that either, but he is sure of one thing - there is something extremely familiar about the Archangel's captain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Hawk of Endymion

**Archangel Infirmary**

The captain lady smiled sadly on the screen. “You still remember the communication code for the bridge,” she said quietly.

“Huh?” I had no idea what she meant, but she cut off communication before I could ask her. I turned from the screen in confusion. Why does she seem so familiar? I know for a fact that I've never met her before. In the infirmary bed next to me, the blue-haired guy stops struggling to sit up and turns to face me.

“Thanks, Commander La Flaga,” he says gratefully.

“Not you too,” I groan. “The name's Neo Roanoke. Captain!” What is it with everyone on this ship? They're all crazy and they keep calling me by the wrong name. I guess I must remind them of someone. But why does this ship, these people, all seem so familiar? Especially that captain lady... Suddenly I'm struck with a memory so vivid that I could swear that it's my own.

_I'm in a hangar, there's a plane. It's my plane, by the looks of it. I'm preparing it for take-off, and I'm in a big hurry. I'm panicked, and I'm worried, about what I'm not sure. I'm trying to persuade someone. I turn around, and it's the captain. Her dark brown eyes looking at me pleading. What we are arguing about, I don't know. I feel as if it's a movie that I began watching halfway through._

_I see myself spread my hands in a gesture of exasperation. “But what if those guys somehow managed to get out in time?” I hear myself say desperately._

_“Yes, I know,” the captain replies, looking away. “If I could, I'd be the first to go out looking for them, but given the present circumstances...” We continue to disagree, but I still have no idea what's going on._

_All of a sudden she looks at me with tears in her eyes. “Commander, if we lost you as well, I don't...” she trails off and looks away, unable to finish her sentence. “Have faith in Orb, pray for Kira and Tolle, and stay here.” She says quietly._

_I hear myself sigh, then I place my hand on her shoulder, and her eyes meet mine. “Understood.”_

And then the memory is over, and I am back in the same infirmary bed. What the hell just happened? That wasn't my memory, and yet...that was me. It was my voice that came from my mouth. What the hell is happening to me? I'm not even a fighter plane pilot. I'm a mobile suit pilot. Am I going crazy? And that was that captain, the one with the brown eyes, and I was speaking to her as if I knew her. Is it possible to somehow see someone else's memories?

That Athrun kid left a few days later, only to return unconscious, and then leave again. I get the feeling that kid is quite used to waking up in a hospital bed. Although we never spoke to one another, I had gotten quite used to his company. I am all alone here now, and it feels strange. Apart from the guy who comes to deliver my meals and check my vital signs, I'm completely solitary. But what feels even stranger is not wearing my mask. I'm so unaccustomed to letting people see my face. When I was first given the mask by Gebrille, I was instructed to wear it at all times. I never understood the reason why, but I followed orders as any good captain should. Now I feel naked without it.

_We are sitting around a campfire, surrounded by desert and rocks. The people around are clearly defined; half of them are dressed in the white, black and red uniform of the Earth Forces, I recognise some of them as the Archangel crew, and the other half are dressed in plain clothes, equipped for the desert weather. I have a cup of coffee in my hands, and I sit down on a rock next to someone._

_It is the captain again, her brown eyes reflecting the light of the campfire. Someone else is there too, familiar although I've never seen her before. Short black hair and purple eyes, and something about the way she holds herself that makes her seem strong and disciplined._

_I see a short blond girl over on the other side of the crowd. I immediately recognise her as that girl from Orb, the one who sat for hours by Athrun's side while he was unconscious. She is concentrating intently on something, a map or a battle plan. The Goddess of Victory, that was the name that these people gave her._

For a split second, the memory takes hold. It is fleeting, but so vivid that it seems so real. I know from experience that it is possible to create and alter memories. That makes me think of my own soldiers, Stella and Aul, and I feel sad, but not regretful. Their deaths were for the good of the Earth Forces, and I will make sure that they did not die in vain.

There's a beeping sound as someone types on the keypad outside, and then the door slides open. One of the ship's crewman, whose name I don't know, entered. I expected him to be carrying my meal, but instead he is holding a clean uniform for me. He hands me the bundle of clothes.

“Put this on,” he instructs me. By his tone of voice, I can tell that he is not used to ordering people around. He is only young, with short dark blue hair and he is dressed in the white and blue uniform that marks him as a member of the Archangel's crew. I do as I am told, more out of curiosity than anything. He leads me outside, and then joins up with another officer to escort me off the ship. Everyone stares at me as I go past, but I ignore them. I am fairly used to the strange looks I receive by now.

I am led outside, the sunlight blinding me for a few seconds until I acclimatise. Once my eyes have adjusted, I can clearly see where they were leading me. It's a plane, exactly the same as the one that I saw in that memory. A Skygrasper, a voice in my head tells me. How the hell do I know what this plane is called when I've never seen one before? I am brought over to the plane, and standing next to it is the captain. Captain Ramyas, says that voice in the back of my head. How the hell do I know her name? To my surprise, the soldier escorting me cuts my restraints loose.

“What's this?” I ask the captain. “Why are you doing this?”

“Well, your injuries are healed, right?” She replies. “If you stay here, you'll just get hurt again.”

I am too confused to say anything other than “Huh?” I have absolutely no idea what the hell is going on.

“The Skygrasper,” she continues. “It's just a fighter, but you can go ahead and use it.” I swear that I can see tears welling in her eyes.

“What?” I look at her, baffled. What is it with these people?

“I guess you're really not Mu,” she says sadly. “You're not him, are you?” I still have no idea what's going on, but instead of telling me, the captain runs away. I can definitely hear her crying now.

And then suddenly I'm all alone again. The sound of the waves crashing against the cliff face is deafening. All I can see for miles is rock and plains. I am all alone on the tarmac, standing next to this plane. With no better option, I swing myself into the cockpit of the plane.

I flick the switch for the plane's ignition, and the controls come to life. I have never been inside one of these planes before, but the controls feel comfortable and familiar. With ease, I manoeuvre the plane into position, fire up the engines and take off. Normally I would take weeks to familiarise myself with an aircraft before even attempting to fly it, but flying the Skygrasper seems so natural.

I have no idea where I am going to go. Most likely, according to the Earth Forces I am dead. Missing in action after the battle of Berlin. And for some reason, it doesn't feel quite right to join them again now. But if not the Earth Forces, where? I have no wish to join Durandel's army to create the new world order or whatever it is that he wants to make. In my opinion, the world is fine as it is.

Strange as it is, the only place I feel like flying right now is... straight back to the Archangel. Below me, I could see the battle beginning to take shape. Flashes of greens, blues and reds showed the crossfire between the two sides. There were explosions left and right as mobile suits were defeated, and then were lost to the depths of the deep blue seas surrounding the Onogoro island of Orb. And then I saw it, the Minerva.

Well, well. It seemed as if fate had predetermined this encounter. There was no way I would ever miss this chance to get even with that ship, and now I had the means to do it. The Minerva was currently engaging the Archangel just above the water's surface. The battle looked fairly even now, but I knew for a fact that the Minerva was better equipped and had much more back up. The Archangel would lose its advantage very soon and when that happened, it would be done for. I felt a strange urge to stop that from happening.

I swerved the fighter downwards towards the two ships. There were two rogue missiles sailing towards the Archangel, fired from the Minerva. The Archangel's anti-missile defence system had missed them, and they were going to hit. They wouldn't cause too much damage, but I cannot allow the Minerva to have any possible advantage in this fight. I fired on the missiles, blowing them up before they made contact. The force of the explosion rocked the ship a little, and I swerved in front of it. Hastily, I patched communication to the bridge of the Archangel. The captain's face appeared on the intercom screen.

I laughed. “Oh sorry, kinda cut you off.”

She looked at me in utter confusion. “Wha... what are you...”

“You see, I've got a score to settle with the Minerva,” I told her, and then I shrugged. “Don't worry, you guys are gonna win. And that's because I've got a real knack for making the impossible possible.” Before she could reply, I switched off my transmitter. However, she still had not ended the communication, so while she couldn't hear or see me, I could still hear and see her.

She doubled over, tears welling in her eyes. “Mu...” she said softly, before clicking off the screen.

The battle lasted a long time, and to my dismay, the Minerva remained virtually unscathed. Forced to make a crash landing on the Archangel after I had been hit, I had another attack of deja vu. It felt as if I had done it all before. What is this?

And now I'm standing on the decks of the Archangel once more, watching the waves below me. The wind is strong, tugging at my hair and clothes, but I don't want to leave. Where else could I go? However familiar the ship felt, it didn't change the feelings I had for it. I couldn't just stroll around the ship like a member of the crew. Until a few hours ago, I was a prisoner here. I don't belong here...do I?

_Once again, I am hit with a memory so strong it feels like a slap to the face. I am leaning against a wall in the darkness, a gun in my hand. I am out of breath, and my free hand is pressed to a growing stain of blood on my side. Shrapnel wound._

_I am in some kind of deserted laboratory, that much I can tell. But I am not alone. A voice echoes eerily in the empty rooms, and I can't tell where it is coming from. There's a feeling in my gut, alerting me to a presence nearby. I can always tell when this person is near, I can sense him._

I recognise this feeling. I felt it when I encountered that Minerva pilot.

_Without even thinking about it, I immediately connect a name to the voice. Rau Le Creuset. There is someone else in the laboratory too. I can't sense him, but I can hear his footsteps approaching. A figure appears at the door, a young boy. He only looks about sixteen. There is a barrage of gunfire, and then the boy runs over to my side. This must be a few years ago, but even so I recognise the brown hair and purple eyes of the Freedom Pilot. Kira Yamato._

The memory ends, as abruptly as it began. I shake my head to clear the lingering emotions of the recollection. What the hell is happening to me? I'm Neo Roanoke, aren't I? Aren't I?

The only possible explanation is... no, that's crazy. But what if... Snap out of it, Neo! I think to myself. That's impossible, but...

_“I'm the Hawk of Endymion. I specialise in making the impossible possible,” I laugh._

_The captain is there, wearing something other then her Earth Forces uniform for once. This is ZAFT territory, controlled by the Desert Tiger, so wearing Earth Forces uniforms around here probably isn't the smartest idea. She laughs with me. She has a nice laugh. We are in the desert, walking around what appears to be a village. There are colourful stalls and shops all around us, and the whole place smells like kebabs._

_“You never told me how you got that nickname,” she tells me._

_I laugh again. “It's not that interesting a story, really. The battle of the city of Endymion, almost a year ago now. We were being pushed back by ZAFT, and we were taking heavy casualties. The commander of the operation was planning to retreat into safer territory, as it seemed as if there was no way we could win. However, Endymion is a major strategic point, and if we lost the city, we would have lost a major advantage over ZAFT. They said victory was impossible, but I persuaded them to let me have one last ditch effort before we pulled out.”_

_I thought that she would probably find this story boring, but to my surprise she was listening attentively and with interest. I continued, “And so,I led out a team of mobile armour pilots and, to spare you the details,we took back Endymion.” I smiled. “We made the impossible possible.”_

_Murrue nodded. “But why a hawk?” she asked._

_I shrugged. “That, I have no idea. Probably just because my platoon specialised in speed and stealth flying, kind of like hawks. It's a bit of a stupid nickname, really.” I chuckled._

_She looked thoughtful for a moment. “It's not stupid,” she said quietly. “I like it. 'The Hawk of Endymion'. It sounds brave. It sounds like you.”_

This seems to be happening more and more often. Could these really be memories of some kind of past life? Am I really Neo Roanoke? And then there's the captain, at the centre of it all. Who was she to me? I might have been able to explain away everything else with logic and reasoning, but not her. Something about her makes me feel like I need to protect her, like I need to stay by her side. There is some deep sadness in her eyes that I am yet to understand, but I feel like it has something to do with me. Or rather, with who I used to be.

I can hear footsteps climbing the ladder up to the deck that I am standing on. The small metal hatch opens, and out emerges the very object of my thoughts. The sun is just beginning to set, causing the tips of the waves below us to reflect the orange-yellow light, and casting long shadows on the deck. I don't know what to call her, so I'll just call her Captain. Calling her Murrue or Captain Ramias or anything else just doesn't feel right.

“Ah, here you are,” she says as she makes her way out of the hatch and onto the deck. She must have been looking for me.

I turn back to the setting sun on the horizon, and reply truthfully, “I had no other place to go.”


End file.
